The Secret Garden

Yesterday I stumbled across "The Secret Garden" movie on TV. I haven't thought about Mary Lennox, Dicken the animal tamer, or the Moors of England for years! What fun. I think Angelines was a little curious as to why I was so set on watching the whole thing.

I remember when the movie came out. We went to see it at the theater in the Bayshore Mall in Eureka. It was the first time I saw a movie made from a book I loved and I remember leaving the theater a little disappointed by the changes they made, but at the same time thrilled by the experience of watching the characters come to life on screen.

The Secret Garden was one of my childhood favorites; one of the first "chapter books" my mom read to Emily and me. I can remember lying in bed and listening to my mom's voice invoking the adventures of Mary Lennox skipping rope across the Moors and following the robin red-breast to the door of the secret garden. When Mary shows Dicken the garden for the first time he cuts a rose stem with his penknife to reveal the green 'wick' and assures her that the garden is alive; it was magical. My imagination went wild: I longed to have a secret place of my own.

I think that was the beginning of my obsession with gardening. ;) ... Even if my cherry potatoes and peaked tomatoes are poor proof.